Marxist Mayhem in Wall Street Protests

The so-called "Wall Street protesters" who presently follow the '60s adage of "taking it to the streets" might do well to review a bit of history -- in particular, as it relates to the consequences of Marxist ideology.

In 1951, when the horrors of the Red Terror, Siberian gulags, and Auschwitz death camps were still very real, author Eric Hoffer wrote in his acclaimed book, The True Believer, that the "monstrous evils of the 20th century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind."1

British economist John Maynard Keynes noted in 1919 that Soviet socialist icon "[Vladimir] Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. ... Lenin certainly was right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose."2

Indeed, ever since the first Communist International Party Congress in 1922, Lenin's followers have successively announced their determination to destroy all capitalistic countries, including America. A big part of that strategy was to gain political control of China, which was abetted in part by covert operatives within the State Department following World War II. John F. Kennedy, as a member of the House of Representatives, said in a speech in early 1949, "Our relationship with China since the end of the Second World War has been a tragic one[.] ... The continued insistence that aid would not be forthcoming unless a coalition government with the Communists was formed, was a crippling blow to the National Government. ... This is the tragic story of China whose freedom we once fought to preserve. What our young men had saved, our diplomats and our President [Truman] have frittered away."3

Wall Street protesters, wherever they may be found, fail to see that political corruption and subversion masquerade as corporate incompetence and avarice. These protesters have been taught to see only incorrigibly evil executives and boards of directors who control the means of production. In his book, Karla Marx: How Feminism Has Seduced The West, Marshall R. Goodman recalls TV ads for the former Washington Mutual, or WaMu, which portrayed financial industry executives as "dull-witted, greedy old white male bankers." Not long afterward, the company's market value plunged, and the firm was sold for pennies on the dollar. Goodman wrote, "World-class financial standards developed over a century by 'old-fashioned, stodgy bankers' were set aside with purpose and malice in a matter of years by WaMu's New Age workforce."4

Life imitated art recently when U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara used Oliver Stone's signature Wall Street line recently in announcing a sweeping securities investigation. "Sometimes," Bharara said, "greed is not good."5 One could say that such people as Bharara, Stone, and Michael Moore -- to name a few -- see Gordon Gekko at every trading desk. Rather than Wall Street, maybe Stone and current protesters should take to South LaSalle Street and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). That exchange trades options on more than 2,200 companies, 20 stock indices, and 140 exchange-traded funds, possessing enough leverage to wag the tail on the Wall Street dog.6 And market volatility has increased since the CBOE set up shop in 1973. Proponents will say that the exchange provides a means of hedging risk. But that was said about heavy short-sales speculation that played a role in the Crash of 1929.

U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto, an advocate of Marxist liberation theology who received the International Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1985, now promotes global economic governance. He helped to organize the radical "Group of 77," or G77, whose goal is to reshape the world financial system. At the time of his U.N. appointment, d'Escoto was foreign minister to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and a member of the highest governing body of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.7

George Weigel, a Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, provides some insight as to where this all might lead. "When the state attempts to establish, as the official national creed, a crudely utilitarian ethic based on a distorted notion of freedom as radical individual autonomy," he wrote, "the free economy is in serious trouble. So is the democratic polity."8

Mike Spaniola writes occasional political commentary that seeks to counter the oxymoron known as mainstream media. He is a former journalist who lives in central Colorado.

7 "President of the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly," United Nations Department of Public Information, DPI/2516A

8 George Weigel, "Questions of Legitimacy," The End of Democracy? p. 108 (Spence Publishing 1997)

The so-called "Wall Street protesters" who presently follow the '60s adage of "taking it to the streets" might do well to review a bit of history -- in particular, as it relates to the consequences of Marxist ideology.

In 1951, when the horrors of the Red Terror, Siberian gulags, and Auschwitz death camps were still very real, author Eric Hoffer wrote in his acclaimed book, The True Believer, that the "monstrous evils of the 20th century have shown us that the greediest money grubbers are gentle doves compared with money-hating wolves like Lenin, Stalin and Hitler, who in less than three decades killed or maimed nearly a hundred million men, women and children and brought untold suffering to a large portion of mankind."1

British economist John Maynard Keynes noted in 1919 that Soviet socialist icon "[Vladimir] Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the capitalist system was to debauch the currency. ... Lenin certainly was right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and it does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose."2

Indeed, ever since the first Communist International Party Congress in 1922, Lenin's followers have successively announced their determination to destroy all capitalistic countries, including America. A big part of that strategy was to gain political control of China, which was abetted in part by covert operatives within the State Department following World War II. John F. Kennedy, as a member of the House of Representatives, said in a speech in early 1949, "Our relationship with China since the end of the Second World War has been a tragic one[.] ... The continued insistence that aid would not be forthcoming unless a coalition government with the Communists was formed, was a crippling blow to the National Government. ... This is the tragic story of China whose freedom we once fought to preserve. What our young men had saved, our diplomats and our President [Truman] have frittered away."3

Wall Street protesters, wherever they may be found, fail to see that political corruption and subversion masquerade as corporate incompetence and avarice. These protesters have been taught to see only incorrigibly evil executives and boards of directors who control the means of production. In his book, Karla Marx: How Feminism Has Seduced The West, Marshall R. Goodman recalls TV ads for the former Washington Mutual, or WaMu, which portrayed financial industry executives as "dull-witted, greedy old white male bankers." Not long afterward, the company's market value plunged, and the firm was sold for pennies on the dollar. Goodman wrote, "World-class financial standards developed over a century by 'old-fashioned, stodgy bankers' were set aside with purpose and malice in a matter of years by WaMu's New Age workforce."4

Life imitated art recently when U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara used Oliver Stone's signature Wall Street line recently in announcing a sweeping securities investigation. "Sometimes," Bharara said, "greed is not good."5 One could say that such people as Bharara, Stone, and Michael Moore -- to name a few -- see Gordon Gekko at every trading desk. Rather than Wall Street, maybe Stone and current protesters should take to South LaSalle Street and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). That exchange trades options on more than 2,200 companies, 20 stock indices, and 140 exchange-traded funds, possessing enough leverage to wag the tail on the Wall Street dog.6 And market volatility has increased since the CBOE set up shop in 1973. Proponents will say that the exchange provides a means of hedging risk. But that was said about heavy short-sales speculation that played a role in the Crash of 1929.

U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto, an advocate of Marxist liberation theology who received the International Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union in 1985, now promotes global economic governance. He helped to organize the radical "Group of 77," or G77, whose goal is to reshape the world financial system. At the time of his U.N. appointment, d'Escoto was foreign minister to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and a member of the highest governing body of the Sandinista National Liberation Front.7

George Weigel, a Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, provides some insight as to where this all might lead. "When the state attempts to establish, as the official national creed, a crudely utilitarian ethic based on a distorted notion of freedom as radical individual autonomy," he wrote, "the free economy is in serious trouble. So is the democratic polity."8

Mike Spaniola writes occasional political commentary that seeks to counter the oxymoron known as mainstream media. He is a former journalist who lives in central Colorado.